My date with New York City

May 24, 2011

I was on the fence for a few weeks there, but finally it was decided that I will be traveling to New York in June for the Romance Writers of America National Conference. Yippee!

I have wanted to attend from the get-go but, man, is it ever expensive to fly across country these days! Add on the cost of hotels and entertainment and the cha-chink meter goes through the roof. But, in the end it was too tempting to pass up.

I will be traveling with my hubby and we intend to spend two weeks on the East Coast. Some of that time will be in the Massachusetts region north of Boston for a leisurely week of hanging by the ocean – the Atlantic this time! – and casual drives through Maine, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Naturally we will visit Boston and Salem, among any other hot spots I can add to the agenda.

After that we will take the train from Boston to New York, just to make it fun and not hassle with a car, and spend the last week there. Part of that time is the conference, of course, but we also have tickets for a couple tours and for a Broadway showing of The Phantom of the Opera. Oh my! Can you even believe how excited I am for that? I doubt it!! :Happy-Grin:

The main purpose in bringing this up nearly a month in advance is that I will once again be partaking in the 2011 “Readers for Life” Literacy Autographing to benefit ProLiteracy Worldwide. This is a phenomenal charity and this yearly event sponsored by the RWA raises hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. It is a very worthwhile cause. I urge everyone who live in the vicinity of New York to try to come to the signing. It is open to the public, free of charge except for whatever books you purchase, and with over 500 romance novelist present to sign books you are bound to meet someone you love. Maybe that would be me! But even if not, there are a load of fabulous authors to pick from. The full list of participants for this year’s event is here:

I am so excited for you Sharon! And you will love POTO, I have seen it twice now. I haven’t seen Wicked but I believe it is fabulous. Even although you are a country girl like myself you will be gobsmacked when you get to the Big Apple! Have a lovely, lovely time with Steve Darcy.

Susanne, I have never been to any of the East Coast places, except for my very brief stint in Washington DC for the RWA conference 2 years ago. And then I never went beyond the hotel! So this will be a major treat for both Steve and I. We are so excited! I doubt I will “love” NYC since I am a wide open spaces kind of gal, but it will be an interesting experience to be sure. Boston and the seacoast and countryside of Connecticut and New Hampshire we are going to love, I just know it. A week will not be enough, I am sure.

Sheila, we wanted to see Les Mis but it was not currently showing. Not that we aren’t thrilled about Phantom. And I think I am going to add on Wicked. Why not? I will probably never get to NY again and have the chance to see a real Broadway play! Especially since Matthew refuses to come stateside, drat it all. 🙁

oh how wonderful! I”m glad you have decided to go! Making a mini vacation with Steve is definitely the way to go to make the ‘expense’ worth while! I have always dreamed of seeing a musical or play on Broadway. If your excitement for Phantom is anything to what I know mine would be if I ever got to see Les Miserables in London or Broadway, then YES I can imagine how excited you are!

I hope you enjoy your trip to the East Coast.
Quite some time ago, in fact it´s been in 2000, we´ve been to Boston and New York City. NY is great, but crazy.
I loved Boston and the beautiful coast all over Massachusetts.

And of course you have to attend the conference in NY. You are far too important to miss it!!!